Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with John W. Hanback
November 17, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6
Rhonda Haygood: Well, what was it like when you were, when you were released—how did you get, how did you get from the camp?
John Hanback: Well, they just brought us up to Inchon in Seoul, South Korea and, ah, we got baths and shaved and showered and haircuts and put new clothes on us and took us down to the ship and loaded us on the ship, and sent us home, so, coming back on the ship there wasn’t nothing but POWs on it except the people that run the ship, you know. Well, they wasn’t allowed to talk to us. They, boy they, they wouldn’t talk to you at all. But, of course, that’s what they had told them not to, you know. So we got to San Francisco and there they just said, “Well, here’s your pay and here’s your ticket and you know where you live.” And that was it. They didn’t care where you—that’s another thing where the government messed up at, they should have debriefed us when we got to San Francisco, I’ll tell you that. That would have been the best thing they could have done. But they just felt like that we didn’t need it, I don’t reckon.
RH: Um-hm. Well, now, I believe you told me the other day that when they brought you back down to Inchon that, ah, some of the men stayed on the truck and went back with the Chinese, is that right?
JH: Yeah. Twenty-three of them did, yeah. Twenty-three stayed. I don’t whether any of them ever come back or not.
RH: And the reason they did that was because—?
JH: Well, they had collaborated with the Chinese a little bit, you know. So they had promised them big things, you know, and, ah, we did hear from two guys through their parents, that they’d married Chinese women over there and, and had started them a family over there. But, you see, they didn’t let them stay together. They split all them up; they wouldn’t, they’d, they’d send one maybe be two or three hundred miles from the other one, you know, make sure he couldn’t, they couldn’t get to one another. And some of those twenty-three done a lot of talking. Instead of the Chinese talking to us about communism and socialism, these guys was pretty well educated and boy, they’d stand up there and talk about how good that socialism was and all that kind of stuff. Course when they—they knew we weren’t eating it up noway and we didn’t, we didn’t have not one, no commissioned officers at all that stayed over there and no officers, I don’t know of any officers that stayed. We had a ranking man in our bunch, a lieutenant colonel, name of Dunn up here in Huntsville, his death was in the Times Daily paper here, oh, two or three months ago, he died. He was ninety-six years old. But, ah, he was, he was a good man. He was the smartest man I ever knew to be in the military. He tried—he begged them to shoot him one time. And they said, “No,” said, “you’re too valuable to us.” They wouldn’t do it. See, they, they killed ninety something people on that last march we went on, that ninety something miles. If you staggered a time or two, they’d just jerk you out, kill you, and throw you over the bank and go on. They didn’t care. Human lives meant nothing to them. Nothing at all. Not even their own people. They’d shoot one of their own people quick as they would anybody else’s, if they thought that they had done something wrong, you know, towards the socialism.
RH: Well, now, when you got home—you told me that you actually lost your citizenship—
JH: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
RH: —for a short time.
JH: Couldn’t vote. Couldn’t get a job nowhere.
RH: How long did it take to get that back?
JH: Five years. Yeah.
RH: Because they were afraid that you might have sympathies?
JH: Well, what it was, was like I went to Reynolds up there, to get a job, you know, I got out and they said, “Sorry, Mr. Hanback,” said, “we can’t hire you.” Says, “We have government contracts,” and said that, said, “We’re not allowed to hire you.” Said, “You don’t have citizenship.” Well, I just went on back home. Then I went to TVA and I knew a guy, a guy named Painter over there that done the hiring at TVA. I went in to see him. He says—he started shaking his head when I went in and he said, “I can’t hire you.” Said—he told me the same thing that the guy did over at Reynolds. Well, I said, “I guess I can run around and borrow and steal everything I can get my hands on for a while anyway.” But, I went back home and laid around there for about six months and I got up one morning and I told my wife, I said, “Well, I’m going to the Air Force.” See, I had thirteen years in, I just lacked seven year having a retirement in it. She says, “They won’t take you.” I said, “I don’t know. I’ll find out.” So I come up to the Post Office here in Florence and a guy name of McCune was recruiting some guy up here and I went in and talked to him. And he said, “John,” said, “I don’t know if I can get you in or not.” He said, “Well, I’ll try it.” And he signed me up and everything and called Montgomery is where the [unintelligible] headquarters is at and told them what had happened. They said, “Sign him and send him on down here.” Said, “We’ll do something with him.” And he did sign me up and in about a week he called and said, “Okay, come up here in the morning and we’ll put you on a bus and send you to Montgomery.” Got down there and went through the physical and everything and this Major, right at the end, he said, “What do you, what do you, what do you want to do?” I said, “I want to be an aircraft mechanic.” He said, “Can’t do that.” He said, “You have to go back in the medical field.” I said, “Well, whatever.” He said, “That’s, that’s where you’d been.” Says, “That’s where you’ll have to go back.” I said, “All right.” I said, “I’ll take that. It’s better than nothing.” So he give me that.
[Break in interview]
RH: What sort of reaction did you get when you got back home, back from the POW?
JH: Oh, I was treated worse than a dog, really.
RH: Over here? JH: People didn’t, people didn’t want to talk to me; called me everything, you know. People talked to my wife, tell her, says, “It’s his own fault.” Said, “He didn’t have to go.” Said, “He volunteered.” Said, “He could have gotten out of the Army a long time ago.” They’d, she’d give them the devil, too. She would.
RH: Good for her!
JH: But, it’s, it’s awful. Even a lot of my own relatives, aunts and uncles and stuff. They just, [they was as afraid of me as of a bear].
RH: Did it change; did you notice change as the years went by?
JH: Oh, yeah.
RH: Get better?
JH: Yeah, yeah. After two or three year everything got, got back to normal then. But, ah, it’s, it’s, some, some of those people had read enough and heard enough on the radio and TVs about socialism, you know, so they felt like, you know, that, that this could happen in the United States, that some of them could take over the United States. Like I told you the other day about this Gus Hall out in New York, he was the president of the communist party in the United States and old William Z. Foster; he’s the one that wrote all them books and everything. Put them everywhere he could get one, anybody would let him lay one of them down. Did you ever read any of them?
RH: Unh-uh. No.
JH: You ought to read, you ought to get that William Z. Foster and read it.
RH: Really?
JH: That’ll wake you up.
RH: Okay.
JH: I don’t want one of those. I, I had, I had to go through a—both of them in the indoctrination classes that they gave us over there. This Chinese guy that gave us them things, he was educated here in the United States and he, he knew more about the United States than I did.
RH: Um-hm.
JH: And, ah, it was one of the first things he told us when he was—took over the job, you know, he had to do it and he said, “Don’t try to pull no hanky-panky with me.” Said, “I know all about your stuff.” He, he knew all about it, see.
RH: Yeah.
JH: He says, “I’ll go along.” He says, “I know all about your coke machines, about your snack bar.” He says, “I know all about it.” He says, “We don’t have none here.” He said, “The only snack bar you’ll get will be out of that kettle over there.” And that was it.
RH: Well we sure do appreciate you doing the interview with us.
JH: Well, I hope I’ve told you enough to keep you busy for a day or two.
RH: I, I believe you have and we just want to tell you that we appreciate your service and, and, ah, hate what you went through.
JH: You know, in a, in a way I’m kindly glad of it, now since I’ve lived through it.
RH: Yeah?
JH: Because these things that, that I would not have done if I hadn’t went through that.
RH: Is that right?
JH: But, it’ll te—it’ll teach you how to live on a lot less than what you think you can.
RH: I bet, I bet. Well, thank you very much.
JH: All right, well, thank you.

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Transcriptions

Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with John W. Hanback
November 17, 2010
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6
Rhonda Haygood: Well, what was it like when you were, when you were released—how did you get, how did you get from the camp?
John Hanback: Well, they just brought us up to Inchon in Seoul, South Korea and, ah, we got baths and shaved and showered and haircuts and put new clothes on us and took us down to the ship and loaded us on the ship, and sent us home, so, coming back on the ship there wasn’t nothing but POWs on it except the people that run the ship, you know. Well, they wasn’t allowed to talk to us. They, boy they, they wouldn’t talk to you at all. But, of course, that’s what they had told them not to, you know. So we got to San Francisco and there they just said, “Well, here’s your pay and here’s your ticket and you know where you live.” And that was it. They didn’t care where you—that’s another thing where the government messed up at, they should have debriefed us when we got to San Francisco, I’ll tell you that. That would have been the best thing they could have done. But they just felt like that we didn’t need it, I don’t reckon.
RH: Um-hm. Well, now, I believe you told me the other day that when they brought you back down to Inchon that, ah, some of the men stayed on the truck and went back with the Chinese, is that right?
JH: Yeah. Twenty-three of them did, yeah. Twenty-three stayed. I don’t whether any of them ever come back or not.
RH: And the reason they did that was because—?
JH: Well, they had collaborated with the Chinese a little bit, you know. So they had promised them big things, you know, and, ah, we did hear from two guys through their parents, that they’d married Chinese women over there and, and had started them a family over there. But, you see, they didn’t let them stay together. They split all them up; they wouldn’t, they’d, they’d send one maybe be two or three hundred miles from the other one, you know, make sure he couldn’t, they couldn’t get to one another. And some of those twenty-three done a lot of talking. Instead of the Chinese talking to us about communism and socialism, these guys was pretty well educated and boy, they’d stand up there and talk about how good that socialism was and all that kind of stuff. Course when they—they knew we weren’t eating it up noway and we didn’t, we didn’t have not one, no commissioned officers at all that stayed over there and no officers, I don’t know of any officers that stayed. We had a ranking man in our bunch, a lieutenant colonel, name of Dunn up here in Huntsville, his death was in the Times Daily paper here, oh, two or three months ago, he died. He was ninety-six years old. But, ah, he was, he was a good man. He was the smartest man I ever knew to be in the military. He tried—he begged them to shoot him one time. And they said, “No,” said, “you’re too valuable to us.” They wouldn’t do it. See, they, they killed ninety something people on that last march we went on, that ninety something miles. If you staggered a time or two, they’d just jerk you out, kill you, and throw you over the bank and go on. They didn’t care. Human lives meant nothing to them. Nothing at all. Not even their own people. They’d shoot one of their own people quick as they would anybody else’s, if they thought that they had done something wrong, you know, towards the socialism.
RH: Well, now, when you got home—you told me that you actually lost your citizenship—
JH: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
RH: —for a short time.
JH: Couldn’t vote. Couldn’t get a job nowhere.
RH: How long did it take to get that back?
JH: Five years. Yeah.
RH: Because they were afraid that you might have sympathies?
JH: Well, what it was, was like I went to Reynolds up there, to get a job, you know, I got out and they said, “Sorry, Mr. Hanback,” said, “we can’t hire you.” Says, “We have government contracts,” and said that, said, “We’re not allowed to hire you.” Said, “You don’t have citizenship.” Well, I just went on back home. Then I went to TVA and I knew a guy, a guy named Painter over there that done the hiring at TVA. I went in to see him. He says—he started shaking his head when I went in and he said, “I can’t hire you.” Said—he told me the same thing that the guy did over at Reynolds. Well, I said, “I guess I can run around and borrow and steal everything I can get my hands on for a while anyway.” But, I went back home and laid around there for about six months and I got up one morning and I told my wife, I said, “Well, I’m going to the Air Force.” See, I had thirteen years in, I just lacked seven year having a retirement in it. She says, “They won’t take you.” I said, “I don’t know. I’ll find out.” So I come up to the Post Office here in Florence and a guy name of McCune was recruiting some guy up here and I went in and talked to him. And he said, “John,” said, “I don’t know if I can get you in or not.” He said, “Well, I’ll try it.” And he signed me up and everything and called Montgomery is where the [unintelligible] headquarters is at and told them what had happened. They said, “Sign him and send him on down here.” Said, “We’ll do something with him.” And he did sign me up and in about a week he called and said, “Okay, come up here in the morning and we’ll put you on a bus and send you to Montgomery.” Got down there and went through the physical and everything and this Major, right at the end, he said, “What do you, what do you, what do you want to do?” I said, “I want to be an aircraft mechanic.” He said, “Can’t do that.” He said, “You have to go back in the medical field.” I said, “Well, whatever.” He said, “That’s, that’s where you’d been.” Says, “That’s where you’ll have to go back.” I said, “All right.” I said, “I’ll take that. It’s better than nothing.” So he give me that.
[Break in interview]
RH: What sort of reaction did you get when you got back home, back from the POW?
JH: Oh, I was treated worse than a dog, really.
RH: Over here? JH: People didn’t, people didn’t want to talk to me; called me everything, you know. People talked to my wife, tell her, says, “It’s his own fault.” Said, “He didn’t have to go.” Said, “He volunteered.” Said, “He could have gotten out of the Army a long time ago.” They’d, she’d give them the devil, too. She would.
RH: Good for her!
JH: But, it’s, it’s awful. Even a lot of my own relatives, aunts and uncles and stuff. They just, [they was as afraid of me as of a bear].
RH: Did it change; did you notice change as the years went by?
JH: Oh, yeah.
RH: Get better?
JH: Yeah, yeah. After two or three year everything got, got back to normal then. But, ah, it’s, it’s, some, some of those people had read enough and heard enough on the radio and TVs about socialism, you know, so they felt like, you know, that, that this could happen in the United States, that some of them could take over the United States. Like I told you the other day about this Gus Hall out in New York, he was the president of the communist party in the United States and old William Z. Foster; he’s the one that wrote all them books and everything. Put them everywhere he could get one, anybody would let him lay one of them down. Did you ever read any of them?
RH: Unh-uh. No.
JH: You ought to read, you ought to get that William Z. Foster and read it.
RH: Really?
JH: That’ll wake you up.
RH: Okay.
JH: I don’t want one of those. I, I had, I had to go through a—both of them in the indoctrination classes that they gave us over there. This Chinese guy that gave us them things, he was educated here in the United States and he, he knew more about the United States than I did.
RH: Um-hm.
JH: And, ah, it was one of the first things he told us when he was—took over the job, you know, he had to do it and he said, “Don’t try to pull no hanky-panky with me.” Said, “I know all about your stuff.” He, he knew all about it, see.
RH: Yeah.
JH: He says, “I’ll go along.” He says, “I know all about your coke machines, about your snack bar.” He says, “I know all about it.” He says, “We don’t have none here.” He said, “The only snack bar you’ll get will be out of that kettle over there.” And that was it.
RH: Well we sure do appreciate you doing the interview with us.
JH: Well, I hope I’ve told you enough to keep you busy for a day or two.
RH: I, I believe you have and we just want to tell you that we appreciate your service and, and, ah, hate what you went through.
JH: You know, in a, in a way I’m kindly glad of it, now since I’ve lived through it.
RH: Yeah?
JH: Because these things that, that I would not have done if I hadn’t went through that.
RH: Is that right?
JH: But, it’ll te—it’ll teach you how to live on a lot less than what you think you can.
RH: I bet, I bet. Well, thank you very much.
JH: All right, well, thank you.